Anne of Green Gables

288 Anne of Green Gables

Chapter XXIX

An Epoch in Anne’s Life

Anne was bringing the cows home from the back pasture

by way of Lover’s Lane. It was a September evening and all

the gaps and clearings in the woods were brimmed up with

ruby sunset light. Here and there the lane was splashed with

it, but for the most part it was already quite shadowy be-

neath the maples, and the spaces under the firs were filled

with a clear violet dusk like airy wine. The winds were out

in their tops, and there is no sweeter music on earth than

that which the wind makes in the fir trees at evening.

The cows swung placidly down the lane, and Anne fol-

lowed them dreamily, repeating aloud the battle canto

from MARMION—which had also been part of their Eng-

lish course the preceding winter and which Miss Stacy had

made them learn off by heart—and exulting in its rushing

lines and the clash of spears in its imagery. When she came

to the lines

The stubborn spearsmen still made good

Their dark impenetrable wood,